New World Order in Doha’s Wake
1 Aug 2008
The standoff between China and India, the world’s two fastest growing economies, and the United States not only buried the last attempt to save the Doha Round, but also demonstrated changes in the balance of power since the WTO was created in 1995, say observers.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) effort to reach an agreement and conclude seven years of negotiations for greater trade liberalisation collapsed in Geneva on Tuesday, largely because of differences between these three countries.
Never before has any individual country in the multilateral trade system challenged the United States in this way, let alone to the point of forcing it into a stalemate.
The impasse was due to changes in the composition of the key actors that debated the fate of the Doha Round up to the last minute at WTO headquarters in Switzerland.
Previously, at the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) of multilateral trade talks, major decisions were made by a select group called the Quadrilateral, made up of Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States.
At the Jul. 21-29 mini-ministerial conference involving over 30 countries, however, the key negotiating group was broadened to include Australia, Brazil, China and India. Canada was excluded, so this inner circle was named the Group of Seven (G7). "I think that the major difference that everyone has noted, compared to other WTO meetings, is that China has been included in the main core of the negotiations," Anne Laure Constantin, a representative of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), told IPS.
"This is an important change because China is a very specific country that doesn’t really need this deal to improve its trade balance or to benefit more from trade," she said.
A minister from a Latin American country, who requested anonymity, said that the outstanding development in the ministerial meeting, in terms of the balance of power within the WTO, is that "China abandoned its low-profile position."
In Constantin’s view, "China has been under a lot of pressure from the U.S. to become more engaged in these negotiations."
Read More...
Source: IPS News
Never before has any individual country in the multilateral trade system challenged the United States in this way, let alone to the point of forcing it into a stalemate.
The impasse was due to changes in the composition of the key actors that debated the fate of the Doha Round up to the last minute at WTO headquarters in Switzerland.
Previously, at the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) of multilateral trade talks, major decisions were made by a select group called the Quadrilateral, made up of Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States.
At the Jul. 21-29 mini-ministerial conference involving over 30 countries, however, the key negotiating group was broadened to include Australia, Brazil, China and India. Canada was excluded, so this inner circle was named the Group of Seven (G7). "I think that the major difference that everyone has noted, compared to other WTO meetings, is that China has been included in the main core of the negotiations," Anne Laure Constantin, a representative of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), told IPS.
"This is an important change because China is a very specific country that doesn’t really need this deal to improve its trade balance or to benefit more from trade," she said.
A minister from a Latin American country, who requested anonymity, said that the outstanding development in the ministerial meeting, in terms of the balance of power within the WTO, is that "China abandoned its low-profile position."
In Constantin’s view, "China has been under a lot of pressure from the U.S. to become more engaged in these negotiations."
Read More...
Source: IPS News
